Metalworking must haves

[VegasBruce]

My replies are based on my perspective; I was a journeyman sheet metal worker, and I had daily access to brakes, shears, rolls, edge formers, welders, lock formers, uni-shears, double-cuts, Beverly shears, angle ironworkers, cutoff saws, etc, etc. Today, as a hobbyist, once in a while I want to make a metal box, bracket, install some rivets, or etc, and I miss having those big old industrial tools available to me. So my "must-have" list includes serious sheet metal tools. But to OTHER guys; their perspective of "metal work" might be as a body man who wants to putter around trying to make his own patches for a quarter panel which is not available any more, or even a new floor pan section for his 56 Studebaker. On the other hand, to my brother-in-law, "metal work" requires a bridge port and a good lathe. And then, aircraft people must be able to work with aluminum. This sometimes requires some different tools and equipment.



Good luck with learning metal work; whichever kind you choose!

Its great having all the right tools at work, but at home I make do with what I have.


And Lump its nice to meet another Tinbender.

 

[Lump]

Bruce,
Yes sir, nice to meet you as well.

I have lots of my old sheet metal hand tools lying around, like my Whitney punch, manual double cuts, bulldogs, rivet tools, etc, plus a stomp shear, anvil, etc. I keep watch for a small slip roll and a good box brake, but they go too high for someone who will barely ever use them...if I'm being honest with myself. It's just hard to let go of old skill sets...and so I do miss having the tools.

Happy 2011!

 

[nissan_crawler]

BASIC list:

1. Hand drill
2. Oxy/acetylene
3. Hand grinder

I worked that way for several years, it can be done, just takes more patience.

Basic list, that will make life easier:

1. Mig welder (personally, I would skip a 110 machine, and go straight to 220)

2. Several hand grinders (I have 4, and still get annoyed at having to swap disks when one of them doesn't have the one I need on it.)

3. Bench mount belt sander (no clue how I lived without this)

4. Bench grinder (I have a wilton 17205 and love it, do not skimp and get a wimpy one, it will cause you nothing but grief.)

5. Squares/levels/magnets/welding clamps/bar clamps/etc. (You can add them as you need them.)

6. Dry cut saw. Skip an abrasive chop saw, you'll never want to see one again after using one of these.

7. Good drill press (again, don't go cheap, they're sloppy, have low power, and won't last)

Nice extras:

1. Plasma cutter (I have a $450 chinese one, and it does what I need it to do, for the amount I use it.)

2. Hydraulic press.

3. Tube/pipe bender. These are not the same, so do research and decide what you need first. Contrary to popular opinion, an HF pipe bender can do just fine for basic bumpers and such.

4. Die grinders with sanding disks, scotchbrite wheels, grinding burrs, etc.

5. 3" whiz disk (cutoff tool)

Safety equipment:

1. Helmet appropriate to the work you're doing (different lenses for oxy/mig/plasma, or an adjustable auto darkening)

2. Heavy gloves.

3. Fire extinguishers, several of them. I keep 3 in the garage. One that sits right by whatever work I'm doing, and one at each of the two exits for the garage.

4. Face shield (uvex bionic rocks)

 

[VegasBruce]

Bruce,
Yes sir, nice to meet you as well.

I have lots of my old sheet metal hand tools lying around, like my Whitney punch, manual double cuts, bulldogs, rivet tools, etc, plus a stomp shear, anvil, etc. I keep watch for a small slip roll and a good box brake, but they go too high for someone who will barely ever use them...if I'm being honest with myself. It's just hard to let go of old skill sets...and so I do miss having the tools.

Happy 2011!

I still work in the trade, well I would it there was any work in Vegas. I have an older than my Grandfather stomp shear and all the basics. A brake and slip roll would be nice. I think I'll build a brake, it can't be to hard.

Have a great New Year.

 

[Bolster]

Not saying this is the first tool to get, but this is one of my favorite metal working tools, very flexible and gets me out of jams all the time. It's not a sander. It's a BELT GRINDER. With a 60 grit it positively chews metal. (And stone. And wood. And flesh.) With a 220 belt it has a lot of finesse.

The only thing I've found so far that it doesn't work so good on, is carbide. And I was using an aluminum oxide wheel so that's no big surprise.

 

[Monte]

 

[gorilla]

IMHO all the advice given above is good, I think that you should pick a simple project that you want to do and then buy the tools that you need to do it. I'm sure that most of us built their tool collections that way. From your post I get the impression that most of what you want to do is with is with light structural steel if that's the case don't buy a small 110 volt MIG welder they do not have enough power to get proper penetration on the first pass so you will need to spend time grinding out cold laps. If you can't afford a 220 volt MIG consider a stick welder. ( I feel the flames already!)

 

[kkroger]

Old Thread so here is a necropost... It all depends on what KIND of Metalwork... I have a lot of tools for metal work, Tube Bender, Universal Bender for bar stock, Box and Pan Brake for Sheetmetal (up to 12 ga 24" width but a 48" brake) Stomp Shear, CNC Plasma Table, MIG and TIG/STICK welders, Torches, Hammers, Clamps, Grinders (several 4 1/2" Grinders and a 7/9 inch grinder, Bench Grinder, Metal Lathe, Mill, Drill Press, Horizontal/Vertical Bandsaw, planning to upgrade that to an Ellis 4000 soon, and a Vertical Band of some sort, still looking for that item. Porta-band, Sawzall, Small Press brake (Swag HD Finger Brake, 20 ton AOH Press) Planning to also add a FORGE and a good anvil soon, a good VISE is a MUST have for working any kind of metal. My day to day work is predominately sheet metal but I do have to build structures and such as well.
All of these tools get used pretty regularly. Like Daily...

 

[metaldad]

Bruce,
Yes sir, nice to meet you as well.

I have lots of my old sheet metal hand tools lying around, like my Whitney punch, manual double cuts, bulldogs, rivet tools, etc, plus a stomp shear, anvil, etc. I keep watch for a small slip roll and a good box brake, but they go too high for someone who will barely ever use them...if I'm being honest with myself. It's just hard to let go of old skill sets...and so I do miss having the tools.

Happy 2011!

just used a whitney earlier in the week, in front of one of the young techs.
explained the use of, demonstrated, and let him punch the rest. he has since bought one